“I am the light of the world. He that followeth me, walketh not in darkness” (Jn.VIII, 12)

Since faith is one, it must be professed in all its purity and integrity". Pope Francis/Pope Benedict

email:torontocatholicwitness@rogers.com

Wednesday, 23 October 2013

Stripping the Church: On diocesan building projects...

Any comparison between the Bishop of Limburg and our own Cardinal Collins is a study in contrasts. While Bishop van Elst has a reputation which has earned him the appellation "the luxury bishop" by Der Spiegel our own Cardinal has quite the opposite reputation. When he became archbishop he chose to live in the rectory of the cathedral instead of the mansion occupied by his predecessors. He has an open, friendly manner which has been apparent to those encountering him in restaurants downtown over morning coffee. There is, however, an unfortunate similarity. Both prelates are presently involved in diocesan building projects involving the diocesan center.

The lands adjacent to St. Michael's Cathedral are an entire city block currently occupied by the cathedral, the choir school, some houses and a large parking lot. The pastoral plan involves developing this land in such a way as to provide for the needs of the choir school, cathedral and a diocesan center. We have not seen any concrete financial proposals but I am told that will be coming in 2014. I would hope that this development can be carried out without any financial levy on the parishes of the archdiocese. As one man pointed out to me... the people in Barrie and beyond do not care much about what goes on in downtown Toronto. They might be motivated to care for the elderly and disadvantaged in their own backyard.

I would hope that the cardinal and his advisers will take to heart the comments of Pope Francis in Assisi in the room where St. Francis divested himself of all his possessions... the room of stripping.

My Brother Bishop said
that this is the first time
in 800 years that a Pope has
come here. In recent days
the newspapers and media
have been stirring up
fantasies. “The Pope is
going to strip the Church,
there!”. “What will he strip
from the Church?”. “He is
going to strip bishops and
cardinals of their vestments;
then he will divest himself”.
This is, indeed, a good
occasion to invite the
Church to divest herself.
But we are all the Church!
All of us! Beginning with
the newly baptized, we are
all Church, and we must all
follow the path of Jesus,
who himself took the road of
renunciation. He became a
servant, one who serves; he
chose to be humiliated even
to the Cross. And if we want
to be Christians, there is
no other way. But can’t we
make Christianity a little
more human — they say —
without the cross, without
Jesus, without renunciation?
In this way we would become
like Christians in a pastry
shop, saying: what beautiful
cakes, what beautiful sweets!
Truly beautiful, but not
really Christians! Someone
could ask: “Of what must the
Church divest herself?”.
Today she must strip herself
of a very grave danger,
which threatens every person
in the Church, everyone: the
danger of worldliness. The
Christian cannot coexist
with the spirit of the
world, with the worldliness
that leads us to vanity, to
arrogance, to pride. And
this is an idol, it is not
God. It is an idol! And
idolatry is the gravest of
sins!

When the media speaks
about the Church, they
believe the Church is made
up of priests, sisters,
bishops, cardinals and the
Pope. But we are all the
Church, as I said. And we
all must strip ourselves of
this worldliness: the spirit
opposing the spirit of the
Beatitudes, the spirit
opposing the spirit of Jesus.
Worldliness hurts us. It is
so very sad to find a
worldly Christian, sure —
according to him — of that
security that the faith
gives and of the security
that the world provides. You
cannot be on both sides. The
Church — all of us — must
strip herself of the
worldliness that leads to
vanity, to pride, that is
idolatry.

Jesus himself told us:
“You cannot serve two
masters: either you serve
God or you serve mammon” (cf.
Mt 6:24). In mammon itself
there is this worldly spirit;
money, vanity, pride, that
path... we cannot take it...
it is sad to erase with one
hand what we write with the
other. The Gospel is the
Gospel! God is one! And
Jesus made himself a servant
for our sake and the spirit
of the world has nothing to
do with this. Today I am
here with you. Many of you
have been stripped by this
callous world that offers no
work, no help. To this world
it doesn’t matter that there
are children dying of hunger;
it doesn’t matter if many
families have nothing to eat,
do not have the dignity of
bringing bread home; it
doesn’t matter that many
people are forced to flee
slavery, hunger and flee in
search of freedom. With how
much pain, how often don’t
we see that they meet death,
like yesterday in Lampedusa:
today is a day of tears! The
spirit of the world causes
these things. It is
unthinkable that a Christian
— a true Christian — be it a
priest, a sister, a bishop,
a cardinal or a Pope, would
want to go down this path of
worldiness, which is a
homicidal attitude.
Spiritual worldliness kills!
It kills the soul! It kills
the person! It kills the
Church!

When Francis, here, made
the gesture of divesting
himself he was a young boy,
he didn’t have the strength
for this. It was the
strength of God that
impelled him to do this, the
strength of God who wanted
to remind us of what Jesus
prayed to the Father, that
the Father save us from the
spirit of the world. Today,
here, let us ask for grace
for all Christians. May the
Lord give to all of us the
courage to strip ourselves
of the spirit of the world,
not of 20 lire, but the
spirit of the world, which
is the leprosy, the cancer
of society! It is the cancer
of God’s revelation! The
spirit of the world is the
enemy of Jesus! I ask the
Lord that, he give us all
this grace to strip
ourselves. Thank you!

3 comments:

I am concerned that our "1st" world church is behaving/living in a manner that is - outside of public liturgy - that is horrifying our sister churches in the "3rd" world.

Could not the monies targeted for this development be better spent sending it to those poor sister churches who have barely two pennies to rub together as they struggle to survive. The ancient Church in Rome produced miracles without any fund raising projects.

I am concerned that though there is a lot of bricks and mortar; there is less and less faith.

With many of our parishes in pastoral crises, I do not see any urgency on the part of this Pastoral Plan to re-awaken the faith that is rapidly fading... your question is correct - ultimately there is no difference between the German diocese and Toronto, except for superficial episcopal optics.

Let's not confuse any desire for simplification with beauty in the liturgy and the church. St. Jean Vianney had one, torn habit but he insisted on the finest chasubles. Why? Not for him, but for the LORD. St. Francis of Assisi loved poverty but not when it came to the Mass.

We don't need any new buildings; we need to fix what we have and we need to preach and convert and a $200,000,000.00 real estate development is not going to do it.

If a bishop can be called into Rome and raked over the coals for a mere 21 million Euros - surely Cardinal Collins needs to explain why the Archdiocese is seeking a 115 million or so Euro ($200 million CAD) cash grab...